Gorongosa NP - September 2019

[safarigirl.se]

Thank you @Pictus Safaris for a lovely trip report! My safari bug is really starting to affect me! It's so great to see areas come back to life and you brought us on an excellent trip. So happy you found the dog, and what a show! 

[michael-ibk]

Oh, I do love a happy ending! Great you found the Dogs, and what a sighting that was - really could not be bettered, fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this great report with us, now I´m looking forward to visiting Gorongosa even more than I already had, can´t wait for 2022 to come around.

[Peter Connan]

Thanks for a beautiful trip report. So sad they don't allow self-driving and camping, as I would love to visit.

[LarsS]

Thanks for sharing this experience with us! Awesome dogs sighting! But also the numbers of waterbuck on the plains really amazes me. Open those borders please! (and get myself a winning lottery ticket to pursue all the safari dreams that are piling up now)

[Pictus Safaris]

On 12/4/2020 at 7:02 AM, BRACQUENE said:

 

Well you certainly delivered with this TR and that last post with the dogs has added some more pluses for my growing list of future safaris after 2022 ; Thanks a lot for that 

 

Hi @BRACQUENE- I'm glad you enjoyed the TR. It was a relief to find the dogs, especially after such an absence of evidence of their presence in accessible areas of the park. I'm looking forward to taking a group back in September.

 

On 12/4/2020 at 8:55 AM, wilddog said:

How wonderful you found the dogs finally.

 

What a really special trip and lovely trip report. Thank you so much @Pictus Safaris

 

So glad you enjoyed @wilddog- I'm thinking of sharing some TRs from my adventures in Senegal, Benin, Chad etc if I can spare the time, and if there's sufficient appetite on the forums.

 

On 12/4/2020 at 9:12 AM, Biko said:

Great sighting on your last day. Thanks for this interesting TR about a place I knew very little about. Perhaps one day......

 

Gorongosa is definitely one to add to the list @Biko! You're very welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed.

 

On 12/4/2020 at 2:06 PM, AfricIan said:

Many thanks for writing this up Tom and what a great last morning.  Another place to add to the list!

 

I'm very glad you enjoyed the TR @AfricIan- as always, I'm sure that list is already impossibly long, but I'd heartily recommend Gorongosa for a short stay at the very least.

 

[wilddog]

@Pictus SafarisI think there will be loads of interest . We have a few ST members that have been on some of the more challenging safaris, many that might like to go and for some of us it will be vicarious travel only through Trip Reports.

So please do.

[Pictus Safaris]

On 12/4/2020 at 5:12 PM, safarigirl.se said:

Thank you @Pictus Safaris for a lovely trip report! My safari bug is really starting to affect me! It's so great to see areas come back to life and you brought us on an excellent trip. So happy you found the dog, and what a show! 

 

You're most welcome @safarigirl.se! It was great to see the dogs, especially with so many pups in tow. Given that there are now nearly 90 dogs in the main game-viewing area in Gorongosa now, I'm beyond excited to be taking a group back next year. Here's hoping the safari bug is well and truly satisfied in 2021.

 

On 12/5/2020 at 8:57 AM, michael-ibk said:

Oh, I do love a happy ending! Great you found the Dogs, and what a sighting that was - really could not be bettered, fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this great report with us, now I´m looking forward to visiting Gorongosa even more than I already had, can´t wait for 2022 to come around.

 

Thanks @michael-ibk- I'm already looking forward to your TR! Gorongosa is heading in such a great direction, who knows what you will see during your visit, but if I were you I'd be dreaming of Leopard, Lion, Wild Dog and feisty Elephants.

 

On 12/5/2020 at 7:32 PM, Peter Connan said:

Thanks for a beautiful trip report. So sad they don't allow self-driving and camping, as I would love to visit.

 

You're welcome @Peter Connan- I believe self-driving is off the cards for now due to the tempestuous pachyderms, but this may change in time. There are camping facilities at Montebelo, but I suspect this wouldn't deliver the wilderness factor you would be looking for. I still think Gorongosa is worth a visit, especially if you're based in SA, perhaps in combination with Bazaruto or even Sabie GR/Karingani. The mind boggles at the possibilities in Moz.

 

1 hour ago, LarsS said:

Thanks for sharing this experience with us! Awesome dogs sighting! But also the numbers of waterbuck on the plains really amazes me. Open those borders please! (and get myself a winning lottery ticket to pursue all the safari dreams that are piling up now)

 

Hi @LarsS- so glad you enjoyed following the TR. It's hard to overstate how remarkable the concentrations of waterbuck are in the park. In a way, it's quite sad, as it is symptomatic of a deeply damaged ecosystem, but it's a hell of a thing to see. It doesn't quite have the wow factor of the Great Migration, or the Kob migration of South Sudan, but it's not a million miles away. I'd highly recommend a visit, even if that lottery win isn't forthcoming!

[ElaineAust]

7 hours ago, Pictus Safaris said:

I'm looking forward to taking a group back in September.

Hi @Pictus Safaris. I do hope I am that group for September (if the OZ government let us out by then)

Cheers

Elaine

[Pictus Safaris]

On 12/11/2020 at 11:59 PM, ElaineAust said:

Hi @Pictus Safaris. I do hope I am that group for September (if the OZ government let us out by then)

Cheers

Elaine

 

Hi Elaine - very much looking forward to welcoming you to Gorongosa. We are going ahead as planned unless it becomes clear that the safari simply isn't feasible, but given the excellent progress made recently with vaccines our hopes are high.

 

Tom

[Kitsafari]

On 12/12/2020 at 12:47 AM, Pictus Safaris said:

 

 

So glad you enjoyed @wilddog- I'm thinking of sharing some TRs from my adventures in Senegal, Benin, Chad etc if I can spare the time, and if there's sufficient appetite on the forums.

 

 

 

sufficient appetite? you're in the right place for that! get crackin' on those TRs. Pretty please and a thanks in advance.

 

DOGS! what a fantastic sighting to end your trip on. and 30 of them. i'm curious - how far apart in age were the older pups from the younger pups, bearing in mind that it's - at least usually - the alpha female that bears the pups, although I may be wrong in assuming that?

 

thank you so much for sharing. I'm just crossing my fingers that 2022 happens too....

 

 

 

[JayRon]

Awesome trip report... Really good structured storytelling. I thought for a long time that you would see the dogs, but then I was almost giving up on your behalf, but success in the end..... And lots of great info about Gorongosa. But probably a place I won´t visit in the near future. My wife is so scared of elephants 

[AKR1]

@Pictus Safaris

Great trip report. 
 

You will be interested in this article on the relocation of a female leopard to the park. 

How This Spot (in Mozambique) Got Its Leopard
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/science/mozambique-gorongosa-leopard.html?referringSource=articleShare